
UTSA coach Pat Hallmark (at right) poses for photos with his players in the team’s celebration for winning the American Athletic Conference regular-season championship. – Photo by Jerry Briggs
By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay
UTSA baseball coach Pat Hallmark may need to study some video on how football coach Jeff Traylor manages the championship celebrations.
Coaxed by his players to join them in a group on the field for a photo shoot on Saturday afternoon, Hallmark was ambushed by one of them wielding a bucket of icy cold water.
Cheers rang out after the splash soaked the coach, who looked up at a group of reporters and photographers, laughing and wearing a wide smile.
“It was cold,” Hallmark said. “I probably should have known it was coming. I guess it’s our first championship, so in the future, maybe I can dodge it like Jeff does.”
Considering that the Roadrunners clinched the American Athletic Conference regular-season title eight days ago in North Carolina, they had been planning to hold an official celebration on their home field since early this week.
The festivities seemed all the more sweet after they swept three games from the Rice Owls to close the regular season.
UTSA completed their ninth series victory and their fifth weekend sweep of AAC competition with an emphatic 7-0 victory over the Owls on Saturday.
Later, it was announced that the top-seeded Roadrunners (42-11, 23-4) would open the tournament Tuesday in Florida against the No. 8 Owls (17-38, 10-17). After sweeping Rice, UTSA improved to 13-1 in their last 14 games.
“Playing good baseball and winning games never gets old,” said Hallmark, a former Rice assistant from 2006-16 under Wayne Graham. “I’ve been over there wearing that uniform (of the Owls).
“It’s nice to beat everybody but it might be a little nicer to beat those guys, for me personally. I don’t think these guys (on the Roadrunners) care. The sweep is good. The wins are good.
“The most important thing to me is the quality of the play. I thought the first four innings on Thursday was not up to our standard, but the other 23 innings were UTSA baseball.”
On Thursday, the Roadrunners surprisingly came out flat and fell behind 7-0. They were getting out-hustled and no-hit through four innings.
But in the bottom of the fifth, the Roadrunners exploded for seven runs and went on to record their program record 40th victory of the season by a score of 15-7. They followed on Friday by winning 11-4 and then pitched the shutout in the finale for victory No. 42.
It was only the third shutout for UTSA this season and the first in a game that covered nine innings.
The next order of business is the AAC tournament, which runs through Sunday, May 25, at the BayCare Ballpark in Clearwater. The winner earns an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. Even if Roadrunners don’t win the postseason title, they could earn an NCAA at-large bid. UTSA hasn’t played in an NCAA tournament since 2013.
Hallmark acknowledged the challenge of having to beat the Owls for the fourth game in a row in the tournament opener. He knows it will be tough considering the Owls are led by veteran coach David Pierce, a one-time assistant with Hallmark under Graham.
“David’s as competitive as they come,” Hallmark said. “He’s going to get ’em a little pissed off and they’ll be ready, and they still got (pitcher Davion) Hickson. He didn’t throw their best guy this weekend, so I’m sure he’s going to throw on Tuesday. We’re going to have to beat him, but we’ll be ready. We play really well, and we’ll be ready.”
Records
Rice 17-38, 10-17
UTSA 42-11, 23-4
Coming up
AAC tournament, at Clearwater, Fla., with top-seeded UTSA playing No. 8 Rice on Tuesday. The tournament will run through May 25 at the BayCare Ballpark.
Tuesday, May 20
(All times Central)
Game 1: No. 5 Tulane vs. No. 4 Florida Atlantic | 8 a.m. | ESPN+
Game 2: No. 8 Rice vs. No. 1 UTSA | 47 minutes after Game 1 | ESPN+
Game 3: No. 7 Wichita State vs. No. 2 Charlotte | 3 p.m. | ESPN+
Game 4: No. 6 East Carolina vs. No. 3 South Florida | 47 minutes after Game 3 | ESPN+
Notable
UTSA third baseman Norris McClure is day to day after suffering a knee contusion in the top of the second of Saturday’s finale and having to come out of the game.
Hallmark said he thinks McClure, a .356 hitter, will play but will know more in a few days. The team will fly out to Florida on Sunday and will practice there on Monday.
Sitting at No. 20 in the NCAA’s ratings percentage index entering the Rice series, UTSA has now won three in a row and 13 of their last 14 going into the tournament. Extended, the Roadrunners are 17-2 in their last 19 games.

UTSA starter James Hubbard pitched four scoreless, no-hit innings Saturday in UTSA’s 7-0 victory over the Rice Owls at Roadrunner Field. With the win, the American Athletic Conference champions finished the regular season 42-11. They’ll play Rice again Tuesday in the opener of the AAC tournament in Florida. – Photo by Joe Alexander

UTSA centerfielder Mason Lytle is introduced with his family at Senior Day festivities. UTSA beat Rice 7-0 on the final day of the regular season. – Photo by Joe Alexander